Great Article on the Brains of Spenders vs. Savers

In my world as a Professional Organizer, I work with many clients who have what they feel is a lot of stuff - most of the time, they feel like what they have is too much.

Part of how people accumulate things is via shopping. For some, shopping is a chore, while for others, it's a competetive sport! In all seriousness, shopping - and compulsive shopping in particular -
can end up creating lots of clutter and land people in debt.

I just came across a very interesting article on the recently
discovered differences in brain activity between people who tend to
spend versus those who tend not to. You can read it at:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/brain-shopping.htm

--
Joshua Zerkel
Certified Professional Organizer (R)
President, National Association of Professional Organizers, San
Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions
"...for the way you want to live"

Web: www.customlivingsolutions.com

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com
Tel (415) 830-6345 | Fax (360) 364-8728

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com

Would You Like Your Email Read to You?

Well, with the volume of email I read, sometimes I think it would be nice for someone to read my messages to me instead of staring at the computer screen. I was at Macworld recently, and came across a company called Voice on the Go, who sells a monthly service that does just that, and more.

Voice on the Go will read your email to you, then let you respond with your voice, which sounds pretty cool. I assumed that the service did some sort of voice recognition or transcription, but it doesn't -instead, it records your voice-based email reply and attaches it to your message as an attachment, so your recipient can listen to your response. Could be neat, or could be annoying, depending on your recipient's point of view, I suppose.

The monthly service is under $10, and has a bunch of features not listed here. Learn more at:
http://www.voiceonthego.com/


--Joshua Zerkel

Certified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel


Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

Comprehensive List of Online Storage Services

There are tons of services and sites out there that let you upload,store, and sometimes share your important documents. When you storethings online, it's easy to access your files from virtually anywhereyou have web access - no need to worry about carrying a flash drive ora cd. To get an idea of the various services available, check out thiscomprehensive list:

http://www.businesscreditcards.com/bootstrapper/no-more-filing-cabinet-25-online-filing-systems-for-web-workers/

And of course, big players not on the list are Microsoft's Liveservice and Google Docs, which both provide some document upload andsharing features.

--Joshua ZerkelCertified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter
Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers:

http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

This is Your Brain on the Computer

I've often wished that I could get my computer to think the way I do,and organize information within my mind's own paradigm, but by andlarge computers force us to adapt our way of thinking to how they havebeen designed. Sure, there are many ways to customize your preferencesand get things more to your liking, but beyond that, the computer isessentially meant to be used a certain way.

While at Macworld, I found an interesting little application that wastucked away in one of the show's corners, called PersonalBrain. Thisprogram lets you create mind maps that are as large or small as youlike, and lets you attach files, images, web pages, and more to yourindividual "thoughts" - thus linking your files in a way that feelsnatural to how you'd think about them (a basic tenet of organizing).Pretty neat.

PersonalBrain comes in both paid and free versions.

Check it out at http://www.thebrain.com/

--Joshua ZerkelCertified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers:

http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

How Much Money are You Losing Because of Disorganization?

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• Discover your greatest work inefficiencies
• Identify opportunities to improve your work environment
• Develop ideas for strategies to keep you on track

In addition to the FREE assessment, we will include a one year subscription to the Custom Living Solutions newsletter delivered to your inbox and a downloadable audio file of my teleseminar, “Clear Your Clutter, Increase Your Revenue: The 5 Essential Systems Every Small Business Needs To Gain More Freedom and More Income in Less than 30 Days.”

Register today! Go to www.customlivingsolutions.com/freeassessment.htm or call 415-830-6345.

Cutting Home-Office Expenses

It's always a good idea in any business - home-based or otherwise - to look at ways to improve your bottom line. One way is by analyzing and reducing expenses. Here's a great article on how to do just that:

http://www.tlmarketing.net/2008/04/03/cut-your-expenses-to-improve-your-home-business-bottom-line/

-- Joshua Zerkel
Certified Professional Organizer ®President, National Association of Professional Organizers,San Francisco Bay Area Chapter


Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel: (415) 830-6345

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

Great Resource for Getting Rid of Paperback Books

If you've got lots of books on your shelf that you're not likely to read again, I've found a great resource for getting rid of these books, and swapping them for ones you actually would like to read. It's called PaperBackSwap.com, and they will let you list the books you want to get rid of and trade them for ones on your to-read list.

Check it out at: http://www.paperbackswap.com/

-- Joshua Zerkel
Certified Professional Organizer ®President, National Association of Professional Organizers,San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel: (415) 830-6345

Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

Great Article on the Secret World of Professional Organizers

LA Weekly, a popular alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, has posted a very entertaining and illuminating article about the lives of Professional Organizers, including a peek into the home of my friend Chris McKenry and interviews with some of my L.A. organizing colleagues. Check it out - it's a fun read.


http://www.laweekly.com/2008-12-25/la-vida/true-life-tales-of-professional-organizers-in-the-land-of-the-happy-labelmakers


-- Joshua Zerkel
Certified Professional Organizer ®President, National Association of Professional Organizers,San Francisco Bay Area Chapter


Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"


Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/


Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com


Tel: (415) 830-6345


Join my Linkedin network at http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel


Classes for new and experienced organizers: http://www.essentialsclasses.com/

Organizing Awards Follow-up This past month, I was in Los Angeles as a presenter at the L.A. Organizing Awards. Along with the Sacramento and San Diego NAPO Chapter Presidents, I presented two awards, one for Best Organizing Website or Blog, which went to OnlineOrganizing.com (you can check out some of my articles and tips there), and Best Organizing Technology, which went to Microsoft Outlook. You can read more about the Organizing Awards at:

http://www.napola.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=79267 http://www.organizingla.com/organizingla_blog/2009/01/celebrity-presenters-announced-for-organizing-awards-this-friday.html

Congrats to NAPO Los Angeles on a successful and fun event. I'll post photos soon!

--Joshua ZerkelCertified Professional Organizer (R)President, National Association of Professional Organizers, SanFrancisco Bay Area Chapter Custom Living Solutions"...for the way you want to live"

Web: http://www.customlivingsolutions.com/

Email: joshua@customlivingsolutions.com

Tel (415) 830-6345 Fax (360) 364-8728

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuazerkel

Classes for new and experienced organizers:
http://www.essentialsclasses.com/